Mephisto (Earth-616)
| CurrentAlias = | Aliases = Satan, Maya, Lucifer, Beelzebub, the Devil, Prince of Lies, Prince of Devils, Lord of the Lower Depths, Mephistopheles, Legion, Old Nick, Nick Scratch, Doctor Bultar, Friend Impersonated Don Blake, Muffy, many others | Identity = No Dual | Affiliation = , ; Former member of the , ; Thanos; countless others over centuries, ---- Leader of a number of agents, including Arimanes, bailiffs, Bitterhorn, Challenger, Dargil, Darklove, Spohrrinox, Donna, Gormac, the Haazareth Three, Hellfred, Herlequin, Hykos, Jerry, John Law, Legion Nagrite, Montgomery H. Price, the Rakasha, Sidney, Skritch, Sykos, Tabak, the Vril, Woody, Zarathos; formerly master of Asmodeus | Relatives = Lilith (former wife); Blackheart (son); Mephista (daughter); Greylight (son) Squadron Supreme of America (creation) | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Hotel Inferno, Las Vegas, Nevada, Earth; formerly an extra-dimensional land of the dead, sometimes called "Hell" or "Hades" | Gender = Male | Height = 6'6" | Height2 = Mephisto can magically alter his height. | Weight = 310 lbs | Weight2 = Mephisto can magically alter his weight. | Eyes = White | Hair = Black | UnusualSkinColour = Red | UnusualFeatures = Mephisto, in his natural form, possesses demonic characteristics including red skin, pointed ears, and sharpened canine teeth fangs. | Citizenship = Hell | MaritalStatus = Single | Occupation = Trickster; formerly ruler of an extra-dimensional "Hell", | Education = | Origin = Demon | PlaceOfBirth = | Creators = Stan Lee; John Buscema | First = Silver Surfer Vol 1 3 | Quotation = Well may you tremble! For you gaze upon... Mephisto! | Speaker = Mephisto | QuoteSource = Silver Surfer Vol 1 8 | HistoryText = Origin Mephisto is an extra-dimensional demon whose origin is unknown. He rules a fiery pocket dimension that he calls "Hell" or "Hades" although it is neither the Hell of the Christian religion nor the Hades ruled by Pluto, the Olympian god of the dead. Mephisto calls his extra-dimensional realm "hell" in order to exploit Earth human beings' belief in a single being of absolute evil, who is often referred to as Satan, who rules such a realm. Mephisto resembles the traditional visual conception of the devil. (It is not known whether this is Mephisto's true appearance, or one that he has adopted in order to resemble the devil). He also allows himself to be called names that human beings give to their conceptions of devils, such as Mephisto, a shortened form of Mephistopheles, the name given to the devil in the Faust legends and of a possible fallen angel. Indeed, Mephisto has allowed people to believe him to be Satan himself. However, Mephisto is not the Biblical Satan, nor is he an actual devil such as those depicted by Judaism and Christianity. The real Satan has yet to be seen in any account. Mephisto's domain is inhabited by himself, by lesser demons who serve him, and by the astral forms of certain deceased human beings, which have been trapped in the bodies of demons. These demonic bodies imprisoning human spirits have been magically altered to resemble the deceased's mortal human forms. Mephisto is continually seeking to add more spirits of sentient beings to his realm by inducing living sentient beings to submit their wills to his. Mephisto apparently seeks primarily to enslave human souls, although he will go after those of extraterrestrials on Earth as well. However, according to Lilith, Mephisto was indeed the Biblical Satan who tricked Adam and Eve into being exiled from the Garden of Eden. 1,000,000 B.C. Taking on the form of a snake, Mephisto appeared before a young man belonging to a tribe of mammoth-riding early humans, who had been slaughtered by a Wendigo. Mephisto offered the man the power to avenge his people in exchange for guessing his name, and bonded him to a Spirit of Vengeance to make him the first Ghost Rider. Mephisto also attempted to corrupt Fan Fei, an exile from the city of K'un-Lun who possessed the power of the Iron Fist. Fan Fei rejected his suggestion that she use her power to conquer the world, and Mephisto vengefully assisted the Gorgilla Clan of Man-Apes in their war against Fan Fei and her followers. Garden of Eden According to Lilith, Mephisto - again in the form of a snake - tricked Eve and Adam into partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge - ensuring their banishment from the Biblical Garden of Eden. However, Mephisto became increasingly obsessed with manipulating living humans into selling their souls to him, neglecting the teeming masses of damned souls already condemned to his realm. 987 A.D. In the year 987 A.D., seven members of a druid cult made a deal with Mephisto in exchange for immortality; they had agreed to funnel souls into his realm. Over the subsequent millennium, the mages acquired great wealth and became the board members of a London-based corporation named Mys-Tech. To pay their debt to Mephisto, the Mys-Tech board plotted to take over the world and kill vast numbers of innocents. Silver Surfer Mephisto has made repeated unsuccessful attempts to break the will and enslave the soul of the noble alien known as the Silver Surfer. In order to do so, Mephisto kidnapped Shalla-Bal and used her to force the Surfer do his bidding and give up his soul. Taking her to his realm, Mephisto was shocked when the Surfer was able to follow him to his realm. Mephisto tried to tempt the Surfer with riches and women in an attempt to corrupt his soul. However, the Surfer was able to resist temptation. In a final attempt to try and corrupt the Surfer, Mephisto absorbed the Surfer into his mind. However, the opposite happened and Mephisto found out that the Surfer's purity was now influencing his mind. Releasing the Surfer, Mephisto admitted defeat, but not before sending Shalla-Bal back to Zenn-La and the Surfer back to Earth, where he is still trapped by the barrier erected by Galactus. His next attempt was to use the wandering ghost of Joost van Straaten, the legendary Flying Dutchman. Mephisto used his powers to transform the ghost of Joost into the Ghost, a super-powerful entity to battle the Surfer. However, after the battle, the Ghost renounced Mephisto, who then began to banish the Ghost back to Limbo. However, the Surfer, truly understanding the torment of the Ghost's soul, sheds a single tear, which breaks the Ghost's curse freeing him from Mephisto's control and allows him to finally reach his eternal rest. In his third attempt, Mephisto offered the Surfer what he wanted most: to be freed from the barrier created by Galactus. He agreed and travels to Zenn-La. However, Mephisto captured Shalla-Bal. Meanwhile, back on earth after a brief battle, Mephisto tells the Surfer that he would free Shalla-Bal if he destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D.. . At the same time, Mephisto secretly replaces a secretary at S.H.I.E.L.D. with Shalla-Bal in the hopes that the Surfer will kill her along with the rest of the organization. However the Surfer refused to hurt anyone, so he sent her back to Zenn-La. Thor Thor, who was trapped in Loki's body, was banished to Mephisto's realm. But when Mephisto touched Thor's shoulder, he soon realized it was Thor. Sif and the Warriors Three went to Mephisto's realm, where they found him and Thor frozen in a chunk of ice. Thor used his selfsame powers to free his friends and then defeated Mephisto by radiating his inner goodness, causing the hell-lord to suffer extreme pain. Surrendering, Mephisto transported them all back to Asgard, where Odin condemns the heroes to Earth for daring to question him. Meanwhile, Tana Nile uses her control pack to disguise herself as an Earthling while accepting the fact that she and Silas Grant are marooned on Earth. Doctor Donald Blake discovers that his office has been closed in his absence due to a change in building ownership. Slowly but surely, the exiled and marooned are separated and all fall prey to Mephisto. He later battled him again went he is forced back to his realm. He used his demons to disguise as his friends taunt him. However he is able to see through the ruse and escape. Doctor Doom Cynthia von Doom faced constant persecution at the hands of the Baron and his men and, in an effort to punish them, she made a deal with Mephisto, promising him her soul. Cynthia walked into a village and started killing the Baron's men, but unbeknownst to her, the magic she was using also killed every child in the village, just as Mephisto had planned. Horrified over what she had done, she renounced the power, and was stabbed by a dying guardsman. She survived long enough to wander into the woods, where she died in the arms of her husband, making him promise to keep their son Victor from walking the same path as her. Upon her death, her soul was trapped in Mephisto's realm, where it was to be tortured for all eternity. Doctor Doom was allowed to summon and challenge Mephisto once a year and try to win back the soul of his deceased mother. After casting a spell to summon the Lord of Lies's presence in his castle, Doom battles the Devil's chosen champion: Kagrok the Killer. However, he lost every time to the prince of lies. Ghost Rider The human stunt cyclist Johnny Blaze once made a pact with Mephisto, whom he believed to be Satan, by exchanging his soul for Mephisto's saving his stepfather "Crash" Simpson from dying by cancer. However, Mephisto allowed Simpson to die instead from injuries he suffered in performing an unsuccessful motorcycle stunt. However, before Mephisto could take possession of Blaze's soul, Simpson's daughter Roxanne arrived and recited a spell of banishment she had read in one of Blaze's occult books. Mephisto was forced to flee without Blaze's soul, but not before he had grafted the essence of the demon Zarathos to Blaze's body. Roughly two thousand years ago, Mephisto had taken control of the living flame that was Zarathos' soul. Since Zarathos was too powerful to use as a mere lackey, Mephisto amused himself over the centuries by placing the essence of Zarathos in a human host. Mephisto employed him in that form to claim human souls. After Mephisto grafted Zarathos' essence onto Blaze, Zarathos would continually take control of Blaze's body. The composite Zarathos/Blaze entity became known as Ghost Rider. Mephisto made a deal with Jennifer Glatzer, a Satanist. She would get Linda Littletrees involved in Satanism under the pretense of harmless fun. However, she soon became a sacrifice that they offered to Satan, and Linda's soul was put in forfeit. He sent her after Ghost Rider, but when she failed, Mephisto forced her to turn her own Satanic power on herself in front of Blaze as both a punishment and a warning. In a desperate bid to save Roxanne, Blaze surrendered himself to the devil. He is however stopped by the Son of Satan. He next sends Roulette after them and then tricked Roxanne into coming to hell to rescue her father, where he tried to use her again to gain Ghost Rider's soul, but fails. Doctor Strange Mephisto, disguised as Satan, used James Mandarin as a tool against Doctor Strange in order to lure him to hell. The Mandarin was returned to Earth after Strange defeated Mephisto and stole some mystical books from Strange's home, but was caught and Strange erased all memories he had of him being a sorcerer. Tormenting the Surfer Mephisto kidnapped Shalla-Bal once again, but when the Surfer comes to his realm to attack him, he transformed himself into energy and sends the energy orb out into space. The Surfer chases after it. However, he realizes he's once more trapped in the barrier that is around the Earth. Hell-Lords The Hell-Lords met in Hades where they decided to merge their respective realms, thus increasing their power, and to begin taking in new souls. They perform a ritual creating the nexus of the netherworlds. Unfortunately, this also summons the Demogorge, who begins consuming the Hell-Lords one by one. Darkoth Mephisto saved Darkoth from an explosion by transporting him to his realm. He then sent him against Thor. The Beyonder Mephisto sought to steal Beyonder's powers or to destroy him to win the favor of Death. To do this Mephisto sent an army of supervillains called the Legion Accursed to attack the Beyonder, who is saved by the Thing. After the Legion Accursed was defeated, Mephisto returned its members to where they were before he formed the team. Master Pandemonium Mephisto has sometimes been impersonated by lesser demons who imitate his form. Such demons are defeated far more easily than the virtually invincible Mephisto. Mephisto has also bound demons to actor Martin Preston, thus creating the entity called Master Pandemonium. Franklin Richards Doom kidnaps Franklin so that he may give Franklin's soul to Mephisto in exchange for the freedom of his mother's. Mephisto Vs At another time, Mephisto initiated a complex plot that in the end would cause Hela (the Asgardian death goddess) trouble in the far future. Hela had recently stolen some twentieth century souls that rightfully belonged to him. Knowing of Hela's curse against Thor, he wished to demonstrate to Thor the horrors of living on a plane of the dead. First of all, Mephisto transported the Fantastic Four and Franklin Richards physically to his plane. There he tricked Susan Richards into believing that he had made a deal with Reed Richards years earlier. Mephisto then apparently took away Reed's intelligence, making Reed a drooling idiot. Sue agreed to stay in Mephisto's realm if he returned Reed's intellect and returned the Fantastic Four and Franklin to Earth. A desperate Reed thought that the clue might mean the X-Factor team. He contacted them and asked for their help. X-Factor agreed, and ultimately confronted Sue Richards, under Mephisto's control, and Mephisto, who appeared in a waterfront warehouse. Mephisto tried to get them to bargain with him, but Iceman refused and broke Mephisto's seductive spell. They attacked but he was able to use his illusion powers to confuse them. He then got Jean Grey to agree to sell her soul in return for the release of Sue Richards and X-Factor. The X-Men then tried to rescue Jean Grey, and Mephisto tricked Rogue into believing he was susceptible to her power to absorb other people's memories and powers. Wishing to save the X-Men, she used her powers to absorb their personalities. Rogue then found out that Mephisto had been pretending that her powers could affect him. He then drained her soul, plus the personalities of all the X-Men she had absorbed. Mephisto then transported himself and Rogue to where the badly beaten Thor lay, after battling the Midgard Serpent. Hela arrived, claiming Thor's soul as her own. Mephisto somehow used Rogue's powers to release Thor's soul from his body, where he then captured Thor's soul and also sent Rogue back to the X-Men. Hela arranged for the Avengers to arrive to fight Mephisto while she tried to free Thor's soul. Mephisto was able to beat the Avengers while Hela was unable to free Thor's soul from Mephisto's mystic mylar. Mephisto tried to break Thor's soul, both with temptation and pain, but he was unable to. Realizing that such a soul on his plane would cause nothing but trouble, Mephisto returned Thor's soul to his body and conceded defeat to Hela. Mephisto then revealed to the Living Tribunal that his power weakening was nothing more than a sham, and that he never really had any claim over Thor's soul anyway. In fact, the whole plan had been to give Thor a small taste of what it was like on a plane of the dead. When Thor's soul finally arrived on Hela's plane, Thor would be more determined than ever to cause Hela as much trouble as possible. Mishna Mishna, a poor Landlak, seeked to bargain her soul with Mephisto in exchange for immortality in order to provide for her family forever. She crossed paths with Silver Surfer, and after a small talk, Mishna changed her mind and refused to deal with Mephisto. Mephista Mephisto had a daughter Mephista with an unidentified human mother. She has battled Doctor Strange on a number of occasions. Scarlet Witch Mephisto's soul was used by the Scarlet Witch to give birth to twin sons, Tommy and Billy. He reabsorbed them, effectively ending their existence. Wanda had also reanimated her deceased mentor, Agatha Harkness, through whom she cast a spell to make her forget her children in order to ease her pain. They were later reborn Speed and Wiccan Wolverine Wolverine ran across Ballistic while looking for the missing Zoe Culloden. Once they find his missing companion, the duo end up fighting her as she and Heatwave had been put under the mental control of Mephisto. Nighthawk Nighthawk was put into a a coma and kept alive, listed in a hospital simply as a John Doe. He was revived from his coma, seemingly by an angel, who granted him special visions that enabled him to see crimes before they were committed. Returning to his life of heroics, Nighthawk soon found that this supposed blessing was a nightmare in the making: He attacked criminals before they committed a crime, making him a criminal himself and attracting the attention of Daredevil. This led to a clash between the two where Nighthawk, in a fury, killed Daredevil. He and Daredevil's corpse were transported to Hell where Kyle learned that his "gift" was actually given to him not by an angel, but by Mephisto. . Trapped in Hell, Kyle fought his way out while carrying the corpse of Daredevil along the way and found a means to restore Daredevil back to life via demonic flames . Ultimately, they escaped from Hell after Mephisto attempted to trick the two heroes into believing that they were in Heaven. However, Daredevil saw through this illusion and they returned to Earth . Brass Bishop Centuries ago, Bishop Benedicto de Vica Severtes fell in love with a young woman named Beatriz but, feeling God would never allow him to have her, he turned to Mephisto, a powerful demon to have her by his side in exchange for his soul upon death. He soon learned why it is dangerous to deal with a devil for Beatriz was soon by his side, but as a nun, making her even farther from his grasp. Feeling betrayed by both god and devil alike, he swore he wouldn't lose his soul without reason and constructed a suit of brass which had the power to conceal the soul of whomever wore it. However, it required the blood of an innocent woman to seal it, ensuring the security of his soul. The Bishop turned to the only woman whose soul he could entrust was pure: that of Beatriz's. When Mephisto noticed the Bishop's soul was missing, he sent out one of his demons, Dargil, to investigate. But the Bishop had been waiting and beheaded him, putting his head on a chain as his servant. He then challenged Mephisto to return his soul, but Mephisto would only give it back to him in exchange for Beatriz's, which was in heaven. The Brass Bishop vowed he would never trade her soul for his but as the years passed, he grew more weary of life and decided to capture Beatriz' soul in order to hand it over to Mephisto. To that end, he built the mystical Tower of Babel which would lead to Heaven through the use of the Solomon Seal. However, Puck and the sorcerer Modred were able to stop him. The Brass Bishop re-surfaced however, and took over the town of White Cross, Newfoundland, where he reconstructed the Tower by using the citizens as slaves. Alpha Flight was sent in to investigate. While Puck's memories of his encounter with the Bishop were clouded, he soon remembered all. The Bishop had attempted to lure Puck out so that he could use him as a pathfinder to the Solomon Seal, in which he did after gaining control of him in the Tower. However, Puck was able to gain enough control over himself (with the help of the other souls the Bishop had trapped) to use the Solomon Seal (which mystically opens anything) to unseal the brass armor. Standing merely a few feet away from the gates to heaven, the armor came undone and Mephisto welcomed Benedico de Vica Severtes to his immortal realm. The Bishop was soon gone, the Tower disappeared and the townspeople returned to normal. Black Panther Mephisto went to meet with the Black Panther. He travels to their apartment where Everett K. Ross received a knock on the door but when he opened it he is shocked to find a demonic threat. Ross became the Devil's Advocate as he is left to entertain him until the Panther's return. Mephisto conjured a pair of pants for Everett while they waited, which frightened Everett as he believed he had sold his sole. But T'Challa returned and saved Everett knocking out the demon. Everett wondered how he could defeat Mephisto so easily, it was revealed he sold his soul to him, but what Mephisto was not aware of was the Black Panther was forever tied to the Panther God Mockingbird After the death of Mockingbird, her soul had apparently become trapped in Mephisto's Realm. Bobbi soon sent a message which helped in the resurrection of Hellcat. Mephisto pitted Mockingbird and Hellcat in the Arena of Tainted Souls. Archenemy During the Archenemy's attack on the united Splinter Realms, Mephisto and his forces guarded the western portion. Hutch Illyana Rasputina, from an alternate Earth, had a son called Hutch. Unfortunately, as he had been born between dimensions, all dimensions had equal claim on the child since he was part of all of them without ever having a true body. Now a rather desperate mother, Magik struck a deal with Mephisto, who would ensure that Hutch would get a body. Unfortunately, the cost would be the deaths of every mutant in all of the dimensions, as all of them were drawn to the dimension where Hutch was. The boy was happy to finally have a body and see his mother but, when he learned what a huge sacrifice this would entail, he sacrificed himself and returned to being non-corporeal. Nightcrawler Mephisto crashed Nightcrawler's birthday party to ask if was he was willing to help in the battle of the Hell realms. He offered to resurrect his brother Stephan Szardos and protect his family from harm. Nightcrawler refused and told the demon to leave. One More Day When Spider-Man's Aunt May was wounded from a sniper bullet, Mephisto approached him and offered him a deal. He saved her from death but erased Spider-Man's marriage to Mary Jane Watson and all the happiness it brought, as well as the public knowledge of his secret identity from the world. Molecule Man Norman Osborn was transported to the dark dimension before Mephisto, Enchantress, Set, Zarathos, Molecule Man and the Dragon of the Moon. However, it was not Mephisto at all but rather an illusion created by the Molecule Man. Doctor Strange is forced to make a deal with Mephisto in order to save the world. Dísir Mephisto decided to donate a portion of his realm to the Dísir, the forsaken Valkyrie of Bor, much to the annoyance of his demon subjects. He also allowed them to invade Hela's Hel as he did not care about their territorial agreements. Thor was brought before Mephisto himself, where he warned Asgardian that his subjects would not be pleased with his presence. Mephisto then tried to make a bargain with Thor, promising to give him the Eir-Gram and a "happily ever after" for Asgard if he agreed. Thor is fighting his way through the hordes of demons. He found the Eir-Gram but could not lift it. Mephisto explained that the Dísir who placed it there simply enchanted it to only go for who it "Doth belong". With Hela calling him from Hel, Thor makes a hard decision: to call on the Disir, who decide to end him. He defeated the Disir and with the souls of the dead saved, Hela traveled to Mephisto's realm, where she confronted Mephisto who denied that he had any desire to even invade Hel. Date with Magma When Dani Moonstar was forcibly moved to Hel, the New Mutants accidentally teleported into Mephisto's Hell instead of Hel. Mephisto immediately offered the New Mutants a deal: he would send them out of Hell and even teleport them straight into Hela's domain, in exchange for a date with Magma. Amara agreed, and Mephisto teleported the team in Hel. He even saw her again but she wished to keep it a secret. Mephisto's relationship with Magma collapsed after she uncovered his dealings with the dangerous Disir, which caused her to call off any chance of furthering their relationship, much to his displeasure. Closing Time Mephisto liked to, at closing time, choose a bar and talk about his day. If you listen and survive, he will give you a tip. At his latest bar, he told the bartender about what was happening during Fear Itself. He offered the barman a deal of eternal life with no pain. He whisked him away to his realm where he used his blood to provide ink and wrote a request for a treaty with the Serpent and a warning about Loki. Circle of Four When Blackheart tried to rule Hell by bringing it to Earth, Mephisto gave the heroes who were fighting his son, Venom, Red Hulk, X-23 and Ghost Rider, another chance to live after they were killed by Blackheart's forces. Mephisto secretly bestowed the heroes with Hell Marks, insignias that designated the heroes as his heirs without their knowledge, which was something Agent Venom would discover after his encounter with Hellstorm. Later, Mephisto was defeated and replaced by Strong Guy as the leader of Hell. However, when the Thunderbolts were accidentally transported to Hell, Mephisto took the opportunity to give them a way out if they defeated Strong Guy. Red Hulk managed to convince Guido to abandon the position of Hell Lord and try to regain his lost soul, thus allowing Mephisto to regain the throne and let the Thunderbolts return to Earth. Mephisto was later summoned by Agent Venom to remove his Hell Mark, which had been transferred to Mania via the Venom symbiote clone and made her a target of the Department of Occult Armaments. Mephisto helped them deal with the DOA but refused to remove the Hell Mark, cryptically revealing that it had been bestowed upon the symbiote and not its host. Damnation in Las Vegas When Doctor Strange used magic to restore the city of Las Vegas following its ravaging at the hands of Hydra, he accidentally tore a hole in the fabric of dimensional magic. The lords of a numerous amount of these dimensions, including Mephisto, waged war in a long-abandoned necro-dimension where the doorway was the most powerful. Mephisto emerged victorious, and manifested his realm in Las Vegas in the form of the Hotel Inferno. The tower's influence began to change the citizens of Las Vegas, by making them act on their very base instincts and impulses. In turn, even for the committing of lesser sins, their souls were taken by Mephisto. After Strange forfeit the liberation of the city for cheating in a game of brimstone blackjack against Mephisto, his friend Wong assembled the Midnight Sons to oppose Mephisto's forces. The Ghost Rider confronted Mephisto head-on, but the Hell-Lord simply stripped him of Zarathos' curse and killed him. In a sudden turn of events, Blaze revealed that he had intended to die by Mephisto's hand, since he was sent to Hell and soon usurped Mephisto's vacant throne, therefore making him the new king of Hell. Mephisto soon lost his influence over his realm and was defeated by Doctor Strange. He then tried to escape back to Hell, but was defeated by Blaze and an army of the Spirits of Vengeance. Mephisto was returned to Earth and was held captive in the top floor of Hotel Inferno, in a prison fortified by countless of magical restraints. Tormenting the Champions Even imprisoned in Las Vegas, Mephisto could access his powers and influence the external world. First he targeted the Falcon and then moved on to the Champions. He arrived after Spider-Man and Brawn found themselves helpless as Ms. Marvel and Viv Vision were killed during a battle with Zzzax. Driven by guilt, Spider-Man accepted Mephisto's offer to reverse time and save his teammates, unwittingly allowing a girl he saved in the previous timeline die. Mephisto watched as Miles told Kamala the truth of what happened, leading to Miles quitting the Champions until he could figure out what he really wanted to do and if he could handle the weight of being Spider-Man. He explained to a baffled Blackheart that he wanted to torture all Spider-Men as well as snuffing out the kind of hope young superheroes like Miles brought with them. Squadron Supreme of America Mephisto is also responsible for the resurrection of Phil Coulson and the creation of a new version of the Squadron Supreme, whose objective is to protect exclusively the United States, even against the Avengers. | Powers = Mephisto is a Class Two Demon, and possesses vast supernatural power, which is apparently inherent within him. He is energized by sources of evil in the human world. * Superhuman Strength: Mephisto possesses some degree of superhuman strength. He is capable of using his magical powers to augment his strength, enabling him to lift well in excess of 100 tons. * Superhuman Speed: Mephisto is capable of running and moving at speeds greater than even the finest human athlete. * Superhuman Stamina: The various mystical energies flowing through Mephisto's body augments his musculature so that it generates virtually no fatigue toxins during physical activity. As a result, Mephisto possesses almost limitless superhuman stamina. * Superhuman Durability: The tissues of Mephisto's body, while similar in appearance to a human's, are considerably tougher and more resistant to injury than the tissues of a human being. Mephisto's body is virtually invulnerable to conventional injury. He is capable of withstanding great impact forces, high caliber bullets, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury. * Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite his superhuman durability, it is possible to injure Mephisto. However, his unique physiology and mystical energies enable him to rapidly recover from almost any form of injury. He is capable of regenerating almost any damaged or destroyed tissue, even missing limbs. * Immortality: As a demon, Mephisto is functionally immortal. He is immune to the effects of aging and is immune to all known Earthly diseases and infections. Mephisto is also beyond the need of food, water, or oxygen. * Magical Manipulation: He can control magical energy for various effects, among which are the augmentation of his own physical strength, levitation, teleportation, the projection of mystical energy as force blasts, invisibility, matter manipulation, image projection, size transformation of his body or other objects or beings, the creation of temporary inter-dimensional apertures, and so on. * Shapeshifting: Mephisto is more of a force than a physical being, one that can take any form that he wants. His "normal" appearance is that of male, red skinned humanoid with vampiric aspect and attire. However, Mephisto can appear in any form imaginable, having turning himself into animals, humans of any gender, or more commonly into other demonic forms, ranging from a stereotypical image of Satan to a giant reptilian monster. During his confrontation with Doctor Doom and Doctor Strange, Mephisto briefly turned into a inconceivable incarnation of evil with numerous misshapen images within him. Mephisto can also enlarge himself to intimidate and easily defeat his enemies. * Ensnare Astral Bodies: Mephisto also possesses certain powers enabling him to capture and detain the astral bodies (sheaths of the soul) of recently deceased human beings. Mephisto does not have jurisdiction over all the souls of humanity's recently deceased. It is not yet known what the prerequisite conditions are for him to be able to manipulate a human soul, nor are the precise means by which he accomplishes the feat known. Apparently these conditions require that the human being in question willingly agree to submit to Mephisto's will. It is not known how a human being may free himself from bondage to Mephisto (although Johnny Blaze apparently did), nor whether Mephisto will forever retain control of the souls he has obtained. Nor is it known whether or not Mephisto "feeds" on the psychic energies of such souls as other demons do. * Dimensional Entrapment: Apparently Mephisto can entrap a living human being within his realm through sheer physical force, even if the person did not submit his or her will to him. The woman named Topaz was thus entrapped until her recent escape. * Netherworld Dimensional Power Tap: Among the demons of various extra-dimensional netherworlds adjacent to Earth, Mephisto has few rivals in terms of personal power and scope of influence, although Satannish has stalemated him in battle. Mephisto's power seems to be connected to his extra-dimensional domain and diminishes over time spent away from it. Therefore, he usually sends demonic agents to do his bidding. * Reality Manipulation: Mephisto was able to create the realities Earth-7161 and Earth-71241 by creating a small alteration in the Earth-616 reality. As part of a deal with Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, Mephisto wove the Earth-81545 reality into Earth-616. * Penance Stare immunity: Ghost Rider's Penance Stare doesn't affect Mephisto; to the contrary, it makes him stronger, due to that power making its victim relive all of its misdeeds at once, as well as the fact that he has no soul. * Medium Awareness: Mephisto possesses an unknown degree of medium awareness, able to pause a battle between himself, Doctor Strange, and Victor von Doom to monologue to the reader of the comic. | Abilities = Mephisto is an experienced and highly skilled liar and strategist. He is also a highly skilled sorcerer with near infinite knowledge of arcane and occult subjects. | Strength = | Weaknesses = Despite his immense power, Mephisto does have several significant limitations. He is unable to force the subjugation of any sentient beings will to his own without that being's deliberate submission. Likewise, he cannot make the same kind of pact with the same person he has done before.. Moreover, Mephisto's reality manipulation does not seem to be completely permanent, as some changed aspects of the life of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson were undone. He is also incapable of reading the thoughts of any sentient being. Mephisto's powers are linked with his extra-dimensional realm and his powers rapidly decrease the longer he is away from his realm. As a result, he typically uses or manipulates others into performing whatever plan he has in mind. Also, despite continuously trying to get any noble soul to his realm and possession, he must need to corrupt them first, or otherwise, he himself will be, ironically, injured in the process. This has proven to be the case with Thor and Cynthia in the past. Indeed, the reason why Mephisto undid Peter Parker's marriage with Mary Jane Watson rather than taking their souls was that, in his own words, their willingness to sacrifice themselves for another person would automatically redeem them. | Equipment = A crystal that held Zarathos. | Transportation = Interdimensional teleportation using his own powers. | Weapons = | Notes = * As stated above, many powerful demons, Mephisto included, have claimed or played off the name of Satan. Despite this, no single one has ever been confirmed to be the true "Satan" and overlord of all evil. This seemingly contradicts a previous editorial reply in the The Hammer Strike letters page that stated, "Mephisto and Satan, however difficult as it may be for you to accept at first, are one and the same character."'' * Mephisto was one of the characters featured in the series of Marvel Value Stamps issued in the 1970's. * Whether Mephisto was responsible for Johnny Blaze becoming the Ghost Rider has been the subject of numerous retcons over the years. Satan (Lucifer) was originally the entity responsible, but this was later retconned into being Mephisto pretending to be Satan. Lucifer was re-retconned into being responsible in [[Ghost Rider Vol 6|''Ghost Rider Vol. 6]], but this has been disregarded by subsequent storylines such as Damnation - which depict Mephisto as being behind not only Johnny Blaze's transformation into Ghost Rider, but all the Spirits of Vengeance. * Mephisto seems to have a hatred towards all Spider-Men. This can be evident as shown when Mephisto started to torment Peter Parker, after his deal with Patient Zero, cursing Agent Venom and his symbiote with a Hell-Mark, also tormenting Ben Reilly, and Miles Morales, and turning Otto Octavius back to his original self. | Trivia = * Mephisto also appeared in which featured the rock band KISS. After being transformed into comic book superheroes, band leader Gene Simmons meets and battles Mephisto in Hell. It is not known if this story is part of mainstream Marvel continuity. * Mephisto has sometimes taken the form of his son Blackheart, but red in color. However, it could also be that when Mephisto created Blackheart he modeled him after himself. | Marvel = | Wikipedia = Mephisto (Marvel Comics) | Links = * (July 1986) * Mephisto * Knightmare6.com; Mephisto * Profile of Mephisto }} pt-br:Mephisto_(Terra-616) Category:Superhuman Strength Category:Strength Class 100 Category:Superhuman Stamina Category:Regeneration Category:Teleporters Category:Flight Category:Demonic Form Category:Dimensional Rulers Category:Occultism Category:Astral Trapping Category:Telekinesis Category:Energy Projection Category:Matter Manipulation Category:Invisibility Category:Illusionists Category:Size Alteration Category:Superhuman Durability Category:Superhuman Speed Category:Shapeshifters Category:Formerly Deceased Category:Class Two Demons Category:Power Bestowal Category:Power Amplification Category:Reality Warpers Category:Strategists Category:Damnation participants Category:Mephisto Family Category:Comic Awareness Category:Magicians Category:Conquerors Category:Prehistoric characters Category:True Immortals